A Restauration inkwell

A gilt bronze and burr-walnut veneering circular inkstand with four cups and four pen-holders. Resting on a circular gilt bronze base, it is decorated with three different foliage crowns and two dolphins overcoming a little central drawer.
The archives and their inventories are sources of information attesting to the importance of the role and of the position held by the writing cases and the ink : they are symbols of wealth, power and knowledge through the use of writing. As long as their use was unavoidable, they were used as gifts on many occasions. Many were received from the greatest of this world : kings and queens, emperors and empresses, princes and nobles…
As time goes by, from the extension to the acquisition of the writing knowledge, the inkstand, tool remaining simple and foremost usual, was overtaken by the art and some of them obtained the status of works of art and recognized as masterpieces.

Bibliography:F. Podevin-Bauduin, Encriers et écritoires, ed. Pierron, Paris, 2003